Apparatus for treating wire and rods



P 3, 1968 H. KENMORE 3,399,702

' APPARATUS FOR TREATING WIRE AND RODS Filed Aug. 22, 1966 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 52 FIG.3

INVENTOR Herbert Kenmore byM /M ATTORNEY.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING WIRE AND RODS Filed Aug. 22, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.5

FIG.6

IN VENTOR. Herbert Kenmore ATTO RNEYS Sept. 3, 1968 H. KENMORE 3,

APPARATUS FOR TREATING WIRE AND RODS Filed Aug. 22. 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIGB ' EMPTY umm RINSING RINSING WATER RINSING RINSING DESCALING DESCALING FIG.7

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OESCALING DESCALING DESCALING DESCALING DESCALING INVENTOR. Herbert Kenmore United States Patent C "ice 3,399,702 APPARATUS FOR TREATING WIRE AND RODS Herbert Kenmore, New Milford, Conn. E. 40th St., New York, NY. 10016) Filed Aug. 22, 1966, Ser. No. 574,203 9 Claims. (Cl. 140-1) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates to an apparatus for the treating of wire and similar products of the type in which the wire is continuously formed into a horizontal, travelling helix rotating and treated while in the form of the helix and comprises a wire propelling and helix forming device adapted to take up the wire, form it into a helix at unusually high speeds without slippage and deliver the wire in helix form directly to one or more horizontal supporting rolls which rotate at the same high speed as the wire helix.

This invention relates to an apparatus for treating rods and heavy wire and similar strip material in strand form at very high speeds and particularly to an apparatus suitable for high speed pickling of wire.

In another application, Ser. No. 574,015 filed concurrently herewith, there is disclosed and claimed a process for the continuous pickling and similar treatment of wire in strand form.

In the present specification and claims, the term wire is used in its generic sense to include all types of one dimensional materials of substantially uniform crosssection size and shape regardless of whether that shape is round as in conventional wire or of some other configuration.

US. Patents 2,680,710 and 3,002,537 disclose apparatuses for treating heavy wire by forming the wire into the shape of a helix, feeding the wire as it is formed into helical shape over one or more horizontally extending rotating rollers adapted to store a large number of helical turns thereon and providing a series of tanks surrounding the lower suspended portions of the stored helix for holding liquids to treat the wire which passes through the tanks in screw-like fashion as the helix rotates. Such apparatus as disclosed in said prior patents is suitable for treating wire to many difierent type of treating baths but is not competitive with the batch treating process for pickling wires, for example, because of its low output of Wire. For example, a typical batch treating process will load about two tons or more of wire bundles onto a hook and treat such bundles simultaneously to a series of 3 or 4 baths at a through-put rate of about 10 tons per hour. The apparatus of 3,002,537 when operated at its maximum permissible speed of about 100 ft./min., for example, treats about 1 ton of wire per hour. In apparatuses such as illustrated by said prior patents, the wire is straightened and then pushed past an offset device which curves it to helical shape of predetermined uniform diameterand uniform pitch, and directs the helix to the supporting roller or rollers. In such an apparatus one of the limitations to faster operation is the inability to push the wire at speeds greater than about 100 ft./min. without substantial slipping. The pushing or forwarding means of said patents comprises a pair of grooved rollers substantially in contact at one point in their periphery. Slippage never takes place evenly throughout the length of a wire so that slippage necessarily results in the production of uneven diameter when the coil wire is taken up on storage rolls operated at uniform speeds. To prevent tangling and to obtain the benefits of the treatment of wire in strand form, the diameter of individual coils Patented Sept. 3, 1968 of the stored helix must be substantially constant. Excessive vibrations also take place at higher speeds with the apparatus of said prior patents. The apparatus of 2,680,710 with its single supporting roll is especially prone to vibrations but the operation of the two roller support devices of 3,002,357 is also disturbed by vibrations at speeds in excess of about ft./ min.

The slippage resulting from the vibration and the operation of the storage rolls at high surface speeds also results in excessive wear on the roll surfaces and subsequent failure thereof.

The term heavy wire is used to define a wire or equivalent strip material which is large enough in crosssectional size to retain a helical form when curved to that form and to generally define a wire having a size equivalent to a /s inch diameter round wire.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide an apparatus for continuously treating heavy wire in strand form at a high through-put rate.

Among other objects of the invention is to provide an apparatus for treating heavy wire in the form of a moving strand which is competitive with batch processes in output.

Among still further objects of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus for the treating of steel wire with acidic liquors to clean the surface thereof while maintaining contact between the wire and the acidic material for the minimum time required to clean the same thereby avoiding hydrogen embrittlement.

One phase of the invention is based on the discovery that certain devices for feeding wire without slippage can be employed to feed and also form the wire into a helix of substantially uniform diameter at a rapid rate. Examples of such devices, per se, which have been employed as wire-feeding or pushing devices, without slippage, are disclosed in French Patent 589,447 and Kitselman 3,106,354. Insofar as is known, such devices have not been heretofore described as helix-forming devices.

High speed operation of a helix-forming and storing device for the treatment of wire such as described above creates new problems which, in order to avoid repetition, will be discussed in detail below in connection with the solution of the problems. Briefly, however, these problems relate generally to the avoidance of friction between the rapidly moving wire and the parts of the treatment tanks and the reduction of vibrations caused by the rapidly rotating parts of the apparatus.

The apparatus of the invention comprises the combination of a high-speed, non-slipping, wire-feeding and helix-forming device with a pair of horizontal supporting rolls for storing the freshly formed helix, and a means for subjecting the suspended portions of the coils of the helix to a plurality of liquid treatments.

The high-speed, non-slipping and wire-feeding device is a device similar to that shown in said French patent or FIGS. 1 and 2 of the Kitselman patent referred to above, except that heavy wire is being forwarded so that the wire retains the helical shape imparted to it on its last passage through the rotor groove. The device of FIG. 4 of Kitselman is not suitable for the present invention. The wire-forwarding device is so positioned with respect to the horizontal supporting rollers that when the wire is allowed to continue in the helical pat-h initiated by the forwarding device, said wire passes directly onto the supporting rollers. The supporting rollers are positively rotated so that their circumferential or surface speed is the same as the linear speed of the Wire and they are rotated in the same direction so as to cause the wire to continue in a helical path which is somewhat larger in diameter than the diameter of the helix-forming device.

The horizontal supporting and storage rolls for the helix must have the same surface speed as the wire. In

order to have a reasonable angular speed and avoid excessive vibration thereof the diameter of each of the supporting rolls is increased above that normally employed (in the apparatus of 3,106,345, for example).

The means for subjecting the coils of the stored helix to liquid treatments, particularly the partitions for separating the various liquid treating agents, must not frictionally slow down the speed of the any one or more coils by solid-to-solid contact. In the prior patents such as those mentioned above this has been accomplished by imparting a uniform pitch to the formed helix and constructing the bath partitions to pass between or substantially bisect the space between two adjacent coils of the stored helix. With the high speed pushing and coilforming device of the present invention the helix-forming device does not impart a predetermined pitch to the helix formed thereby. According to the present invention therefore, the friction is avoided by mounting the tanks and horizontal supporting rollers separately and making the mounting tanks adjustable with respect to the supporting rollers so that the direction of the tank partitions can be adjusted to substantially bisect the space between adjacent coils.

Other and more detailed objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification and appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a descaling apparatus including the high speed drive, etc. of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a view of the apparatus without the wire helix therein.

FIG. 3 is a detail view, somewhat exaggerated for clarity, showing how the tank structure is adjusted for avoiding contact between the coils and the partitions of the tank structure.

FIG. 4 is a detail view of the pushing and coil-forming device taken on line 4--4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a detail side view of the forwarding and helix-forming device of FIGS. 1 and 4.

FIG. 6 is a side view of an apparatus complete with treating tanks, somewhat modified with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 illustrates an alternative way of constructing the partitions in the tank structure.

In the descaling apparatus of FIG. 1, the wire is unwound from a supply source 10, passed over guide rollers 11, 12 and over a mechanical descaling or scale breaking device 13, 14. While passing over rollers 13 and 14 the wire may be brushed with roller brushes to remove scale loosened by the bending operation. Mechanically descaling as disclosed, removes as much as 90% of the scale on copper, steel or similar wires. One of the particular advantages of the present invention is that the mechanical removal of scale does not have to be perfect. Whatever scale is removed results in a saving in acid consumption and whatever scale is not removed will be cracked and more easily removed by the subsequent treatment.

From the mechanical scale breaker 13, 14 the wire passes to a straightener device 15, 16 which is not essential in this particular apparatus but is often desirable. The straightener device also acts as a guide in cases where the scale removing device is at some distance from the high speed forwarding and coiling device 20. Wire in helical form 9' coming from the forwarding device 20 is fed upwardly with respect to device 20, onto the pair of horizontal supporting rollers 40, 41. While stored in the supporting rollers 40, 41, the wire helix dips into the tank 50 which is subdivided into a plurality of separate tanks by partitions 51-60 extending at right angles with respect to the sides 61, 62 thereof. The partitions 51-60 do not necessarily extend at right angles to the sides 61, 62 but since the tank structure is adjustably mounted and since it is easier to provide partitions that extend at right angles to the side, they are shown in this way. From the end of storage rolls 40 and 41, the wire is wound onto spool 70, although any other winding device could be substituted for spool 70.

The forwarding and helix-forming device As already mentioned, the forwarding device 20 is of the type shown in Patent No. 3,106,354 or French 589,447 and comprises a rotor device 31 containing a peripheral groove 32 which has at least one sloping side so that wire fed to the groove 32 sinks therein until it is wedged between both sides thereof. An idler pulley 33 is provided, spaced somewhat from rotor 31. The rotor 31 is positively rotated (at high speed in this invention) by a suitable shaft 34. The idler pulley 33 is free to rotate about or with shaft 35. As shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7, the rotor 31 is positioned below the horizontal helix storage rollers 40, 41 and the axis of rotor 31 is below the axis of the helix held by storage rollers 41, 41. Upon being delivered from the groove 32 of rotor 31, the wire retains the helical form imparted thereto during its last passage around in the groove of rotor 31 but expands in diameter by a certain amount of its diameter within rotor groove 31. The fact that the diameter of the helix formed by the device 20 is greater than the diameter of rotor 31 is advantageous in that it permits the storage rollers 40, 41 to be positioned with their feeding-on ends above the rotor 31 while permitting the rollers 40, 41 to be driven by shafts 42, 43 which are rotatably held in bearings 44-47 fixed to a supporting structure which extends over but is completely separate from the structure which supports the tank 50.

The spacing distance of the helix storage rollers 40, 41 above the coil-forming and forwarding device 30 is not extremely critical so long as the helical curvature imparted to the wire is not disturbed to the extent that the curvature becomes non-uniform. As shown in FIG. 6, for example, the large portions of rollers 40, 41 may be completely above the periphery of the device 30" whereas in FIGS. 4 and 5 only, the smaller drive shafts 42 and 43 of the rollers 40, 41 are above the periphery of device 30.

The wire is guided onto the forwarding and coiling device 30 in such a way as to substantially eliminate slippage by passing the wire 9 first into groove 32, thence over idler pulley 33 and back into groove 32. As the wire in the groove passes under the oncoming wire 9, it is pressed further into the groove 32 and is wedged thereby so that no substantial slippage takes place. In the arrangement shown in FIG. 4, the oncoming wire overlaps the wire which has preceded it over an arc of approximately 100-120 which is very satisfactory. A greater overlap can be obtained without changing the position of pulley 33 by passing the wire around pulley 33 so that it crosses in returning back to rotor 31 as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4. Obviously the degree of overlap can also be changed by changing the position of pulley 33.

The horizontal, helix-storing rollers The horizontal helix-storing rollers 40, 41 are driven at the same surface speed as the speed imparted to the wire helix 9. Separate controls are provided for adjusting the speed of rotor 31 and adjusting the speed of storage rollers 40 and 41. Apparatus with separate controls for the wire-feeding device and the storage rollers has been disclosed in prior patents (2,680,710, for example) and details of the separate controls are not shown here.

As already stated, rollers 40, 41 are driven through shafts 42, 43 mounted on the end supports 71, 72 which are spaced beyond the ends of the bath structure 50. In the apparatus of FIG. 1, the shaft 42 is rotated through a chain-driven gear 73 and shaft 43 is driven by a belt or chain 74 connected bet-ween shafts 42 and 43. The opposite ends of shafts 42, 43 are held in bearings 75, 76, respectively. If desired, the rollers 40, 41 could be driven from the end adjacent bearings 75, 76. The weight of the wire supported by the rollers 40, 41 is substantial. Thus, if the helix, which is temporarily stored on the rollers, contains 200 turns of steel wire and is about 100 cm. in diameter, the weight of the stored portion of the helix is about 800 lbs. This Weight is shared by two rollers 40, 41 and is fairly evenly distributed over the length thereof. Nevertheless, there is a tendency for such rollers to sag under the load, and therefore, to vibrate when rotated at high speeds. The rollers 40, 41 must be made fairly large primarily to avoid excessive angular speeds thereof. With conventional forwarding rollers 40, 41 of about 250 mm. circumference (diameter about 80 mm.) which is the maximum size customarily employed with the apparatus of 3,002,537, for example, the minimum angular speed of rotation required to feed the wire at 100 meters/min. is 400 rpm. and is excessive. Fore the high speed of operation of the present invention, the minimum diameter of the storage rollers depends on the speed of the wire and the diameter of the helix, and said diameter should be sufficient to provide a surface speed which is equal to the speed of the wire when the angular speed thereof is not more than 250 rpm. (revolutions per minute). For a speed of 100 meters/min. and a helix diameter of 100 cm. the circumference of the storage rollers should be at least 400 mm. which means a diameter of about 130 mm. For a speed of 250 meters/min. the circumference should be at least 1 meter (diameter about 325 mm.). The maximum diameter of the supporting roller is limited by the diameter of the helix. Thus, with two supporting rollers, the diameter of each has to be less than half the diameter of the helix especially since the inner adjacent surfaces of two supporting rollers move in opposite directions. With a single supporting roller, the diameter thereof may approach the diameter of the coil. In the device which has been operated at about 300 meters/min, the diameter of the forming device 31 is '800 mm., the diameter of the helix obtained thereby is 1100 mm. and the diameter of each of the two supporting rollers is 400 mm. (or about /2 the diameter of the forming rotor 31). If the minimum diameter requisite for the size of the storage rollers 40, 41 is not observed, excessive vibration of the rollers takes place as the speeds set forth are attained, whereupon the uniformity of the helix is not maintained. It will be noted that where the storage rollers are of uniform diameter throughout their length so that they must be positioned above the bath-separating partitions, then increasing the diameter of the storage rollers decreases the portion of the wire helix that can be immersed in the bath at any one time. At speeds of about 150 meters/mm, two such machines can descale approximately the same amount of wire as a batch type descaling apparatus, the two machines take up less floor space and together require less attention than the single batch type device and at the same time produce a superior product.

As shown in FIG. 2, there is also associated with the storage rollers 40, 41, a guide mechanism 80 containing a plurality of fingers 81 to be inserted between adjacent coils of the stored helix. A very satisfactory distance for spacing the fingers 81 is approximately 1 inch from center to center of the adjacent fingers.

Where the wire is to be treated electrolytically by being made the cathode or anode, the current may be fed to the wire through one of the rollers 40, 41 in the way shown in US. Patent No. 3,073,773 or 3,109,783.

One unexpected feature of the invention relates to the discovery that exceptionally good scrubbing action of the liquid is obtained when the wire is passed in and out of the bath liquids at speeds of at least about 50 meters per minute. At the same time, speeds of over 300 meters/ min. have been attained with this apparatus, and with better mechanical wire-supplying means to the apparatus, etc., it is reasonably expected that the operation speed can be increased to about 500 meters/min, or more.

The speed at which wire can be chemically descaled by this apparatus (1 to 2 minutes in contact with the acid by this apparatus as compared to 10-30 minutes by the batch treatment) can be partially attributed to the fact that fresh pickling acid is continuously being replenished at the surface of the wire due to the movement of the wire with respect to the pickling liquid, and to the in and out movement which adds to the efiiciency of the chemical reaction between the pickling acid and the metal oxide.

The tank structure As already indicated the tank structure 50 is positioned and anchored independently of the supporting structure for the helix-propelling means (including the helix-forming device 20 and storage rollers 40, 41). Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7 the tank structure is adjustably mounted so that it can be shifted at a slight angle with respect to the axis of the helix and the rollers 40, 41 as shown in exaggerated form in FIG. 3. Thus in the device shown in FIG. 7, the tank structure is formed as one long body with partitions 51-60 extending at right angles to the sides 61, 62. At the high speed of rotation of the stored helix 9', it is impossible to predetermine the angle of pitch of the wire coils so that no advantage is obtained by sloping the partition-s 51-60 at a slight angle different from 90. The tank structure 50 is, therefore, mounted on roller means 83, 84. In the apparatus shown, one such roller means 83 or 84 is provided for each corner of tank structure 50 although two such devices at one end in combination with a pivoting structure at the opposite end could be employed or a larger number of such roller supporting means could be employed. Thus the tank structure is positioned at a slight angle with respect to the axes of rollers 40, 41 rather than parallel thereto and is adjusted to the proper position as illustrated in FIG. 3 after the helix shape has been developed. In the device shown wedges 85 and 86 are employed to fix the tank structure in place when properly positioned. Since one or more of the tanks may include electrodes for anodic or cathodic cleaning or for electroplating or electropolishing, etc., a sheet of insulating material 87 (such as synthetic rubber) is inserted between the roller means 83, 84 and the tank structure 50 to avoid leakage of electrical energy. More refined means may be employed to adjust the position of the tank structure.

FIG. 6, in addition to illustrating that the helix-forming device 30 may be somewhat further spaced from the storage rollers 40, 41 than shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, illustrates another modification wherein two helices are formed simultaneously and fed to storage rollers 40, 41 simultaneously. The two wires after being treated are withdrawn at different angles from the discharge end of the rollers 40, 41 (not shown) in FIG. 6.

Positioned above the tank structure 50 is a hood 90 (see FIG. 7) which is preferably adjustable to various distances above the tank 50. The hood contains one or more openings 91 to which exhaust pipes (not shown) are connected for withdrawing vapors given off from the system.

The advantages of the apparatus can be better understood from detailed examples illustrating how it operates.

Example 1 FIGS. 1 and 2 disclose an arrangement for pickling steel wire wherein the wire from bundle 10 is passed over guide rollers 11, 12, through scale breaker 13, 14, straightening unit 15, 16 and onto the capstan and helixforming device 31, 33. The helix formed by device 31, 33 expands and is fed onto storage rollers 40, 41. The helix is continuously fed along storage rollers 40, 41 below which the tank structure 50 is positioned. Approximately /3 of the suspended helix dip into the liquids held in the various partitions of tank structure 50. The helix after expansion is about 1 meter in diameter or 3.1 meters in circumference. (Depending on the wire, the expansion may be about l30% of its diameter, for example.) The first compartment 51 is about 125 inches long; the turns of the helix are spaced approximately 1 inch apart (center-to-center) so that 125 turns of the helix are simultaneously entering and leaving the pickling liquor in the bath 51 and over 375 meters of wire are being simultaneously treated. The liquid in bath 51 is heated to 70- 100' C. by means of steam coils (not shown). At a speed of wire movement of about 215 meters per minute the wire is under acid treatment for less than 1.8 minutes. This amount of treatment fully removes scale which has been cracked in scale breaker 13, 1-4. Tanks 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 and 57 are water rinsing tanks, the first 5 containing 4 turns of the helix, tank 57 being shown as slightly larger than the others and containing 6 turns of the wire. Tank 58 contains a hot lime, borax or phosphate solution to coat the wire with a thin layer of lime, borax or phosphate respectively. Preferably, the aqueous liquid in tank 58 is at or near the boiling point and the wire as it reaches said bath is still hot from the pickling bath treatment. On leaving tank 58 the wire helix passes through empty tanks 59 and 60 wherein excess liquid from tank 58 is discharged and the surface coating liquid is rapidly evaporated from the hot wire leaving a thin film of the desired lime, 'borax or phosphate coating. For subsequently drawing the wire, a layer of lime, etc. is essential to hold the lubricant and provide a 'barrier film between the wire and the surface of the drawing dies. Heretofore, lime, borax or a similar coating has been applied by dipping the coils in an aqueous solution thereof and then baking in an oven to evaporate the water. Such a process produces excess lime on the surface which is discharged as dust in the atmosphere. In the process described in this example, no oven drying is necessary because at least the acid pickling bath 51 rinses 52-58 and the coating bath 58, are run hot, the acid dissolution of the scale is exothermic further heating the wire so that the wire as it leaves bath 5 8 has a temperature near the boiling point of water. In addition, all excess droplets of water are discharged in compartments 59 and '60 so that only the thin layer of water on the surface has to be evaporated.

The incorporation of the scale cracking device 1314 into the system, as already stated, is of especial advantage because it reduces the cost of the acid without having to be perfect. It has been found, for example, that when operating with sulfuric acid at 70 C. without the scale removing device 1344, the requirement for acid is about kg. of acid per ton of wire treated. By the inclusion of device 1314, the amount of acid is only 2 kg. per ton of wire. Similar savings have been noted with hydrochloric acid. Thus not only is there a saving in the amount of fresh acid required by the process but about 90% of the normal waste recovery or disposal of used pickling liquors is saved.

The water in compartments 5257 is fed countercurrent, fresh water being added to compartment 57 and being fed consecutively to compartments 56, 55, 54, 53 and 52. Eventually all the drag-out acid from compartment 51 is conducted back to compartment 52 and the wash water from compartment 52 is fed to compartment 51. Since the pickling bath in 51 is run hot, being heated by steam heat exchange coils, the hot water drawn from the steam heating equipment for the bath 51 or other heated baths provides hot, pure, make-up water for the last water rinse bath 57. Thus, no recovery process for contaminated wash water is required. The acid solution of bath 51 is circulated, iron compounds are removed and acid is added as needed before recirculation but, as stated above, only about 2 kg. of acid per ton of wire is required when the mechanical scale remover 13, 14 is incorporated into the system and only this reduced amount of acid is treated for recovery or waste disposal.

8 Example 2 FIG. 8 illustrates how the tank structure may be partitioned to provide for the counter-current feeding of the descaling acid. In this structure, about loops dip into the first descaling compartment. The first four descaling compartments following the first, accommodate 4 loops each; relatively small compartments such as these are desirable because it is sometimes advantageous to add ultrasonic wave generating means to one or more of the smaller pickling or rinsing baths, or to provide additional treatments with different liquids. When all such baths contain the same pickling liquid the fresh descaling liquid may be fed into the last or next to the last descaling compartment and thence counter-currently to the first large compartment. The last descaling compartment can be empty so as to collect dragout descaling liquid. If desired, different descaling compositions may be applied in one or more consecutive compartments. Rinsing is carried out first in two small compartments accommodating four loopseach, then in a large compartment into which 30 or more coils dip. The final rinsing is carried out in two small compartments to the last of which the hot water obtained by condensing the steam which heats the liquid in bath 51 is added. The hot liming or borax treatment is followed by an empty compartment wherein the excess film of solution carried by the wire is evaporated to leave a thin layer of lime thereon. The arrangement of FIG. 8 can be employed for the pickling of steel, copper, copper alloy or other wire.

The features and principles underlying the invention described above in connection with specific exemplifications will suggest to those skilled in the art many other modifications thereof. It is accordingly desired that the appended claims shall not be limited to any specific feature or details thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for treating heavy wire in strand form at speeds of at least about 50* meters/min. comprising in combination a high speed wire for-warding and helix-forming device,

means for supplying wire thereto, and horizontal, rotatable storage means comprising at least one horizontal rotatable storage roller adapted to hold a multiplicity of individual turns of the helix formed from the wire by said first named device,

said high speed wire forwarding and helix-forming device comprising a positively rotated rotor means containing a peripheral groove of a width which gradually decreases from the outer surface towards the axis whereby to provide a region where the width thereof is equal to the width of the wire and a lower region where the width is less than the width of the wire, and

a freely-rotating, idler means spaced from the periphery of the rotor whereby wire in a first pass to the groove of said rotor may be retained in said groove for a portion of rotation of said rotor thence removed from the groove by being passed over said idler means and then fed back into the groove of said rotor and underneath the portion of the wire then being fed into the groove in its first pass therein, whereby to forward the wire and impart a helical curvature thereto,

said horizontal rotatable storage means having a horizontal, helix-receiving surface extending adjacent to but spaced from the rotor in a substantial radial direction whereby to receive and hold the expanding wire helix as it is fed off said rotor, from its position underneath the first pass of wire,

means to positively rotate said horizontal rotatable storage means at a surface speed corresponding to the rate of feeding of the wire thereto.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said horiz-ontal rotatable storage means comprises two horizontally parallel rollers.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the horizontal storage rollers of said horizontal storage means has a diameter less than the diameter of the helix formed by said helix-forming device but being selected to have a diameter such that its speed of angular rotation is no greater than 250 rpm. when the wire fed thereto has speeds of at least 50 m./min. whereby said storage roller can be rotated at the surface speed of said wire without excessive vibration.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said horizontal rotatable storage means comprises two horizontally parallel rollers and means to rotat-ably mount the ends of said rollers, means to drive said rollers from one end thereof, said wire-forwarding and helix-forming device being positioned between the opposite ends of the supporting means for said horizontal rollers and below said horizontal rollers.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 comprising in combination,

a tank structure comprising a plurality of adjacent tanks separated by partitions, said tank structure being posi tioned beneath an intermediate portion of said horizontal rotatable storage rollers with the partitions extending beneath the lower surface of the storage rollers and extending substantially transversely with respect to the axes of said storage rollers and the helix held thereon,

means for adjustably mounting the tank structure independently of the storage rollers whereby said tank structure can be shifted to extend at an angle less than 90 with respect to the axis of said storage rollers.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said rotor having two peripheral grooves therein and said pulley having two grooves therein whereby two interfitting wire helices may be fed to said storage rollers.

7. Apparatus for treating heavy wire in strand form at speeds of at least 50 meters/min. comprising in combination,

(a) a high speed wire forwarding and helix-forming device,

(b) means to supply wire thereto,

(c) horizontal, rotatable storage means comp-rising at least one horizontal, rotatable storage roller adapted to hold a multiplicity of individual turns of said helix formed from the wire by said first named device, and

(d) tank means for treating wire stored on said storage means,

means for rotatably mounting said horizontal, rotatable storage means at the opposite ends thereof,

means for positively rotating said horizontal rotatable storage means,

said tank means comprising an elongated tank separated by transverse partitions so as to hold at least two independent baths,

means for adjustable mounting said elongated tank in the space between andbelow the means for rotatably mounting said horizontal rotatable storage means, said mounting means for the tank structure being independent of the mounting means for the rotatable storage rollers, whereby the elongated tank structure can be adjusted so that the transverse partitions thereof extend at an angle of less than with respect to the axis of said rotatable storage means.

8. Apparatus for treating heavy wire in strand form at speeds of at least about meters/min. comprising in combination,

(a) a high speed wire forwarding and helix-forming device,

(b) means to supply wire thereto, and

(c) horizontal rotatable storage means comprising at least one horizontal, rotatable storage roller adapted to hold a multiplicity of individual turns of the helix formed by said first named device,

means for supporting the horizontal, rotatable storage roller at the opposite ends thereof, means for positively rotating the horizontal, rotatable storage roller at surface speeds of at least 100 meters/min, said horizontal, rotatable storage roller having a diameter less than the diameter of said helix formed by said helix-forming device but greater than about mm. whereby said roller can be rotated at surface speeds in excess of 100 m./ min. without excessive vibration.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein said horizontal, rotatable storage means comprises two horizontally parallel storage rollers, the diameter of each [roller being less than half the diameter of the helix formed by said helix-forming device and greater than about 130 mm. whereby said rollers can be rotated at speeds in excess of 100 m./min. without excessive vibration.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,651,104 9/1953 Giros 72 3,002,537 lO/ 1961 Kenmore et a1. -1 3,106,354 10/ 1963 Kitselman 24247.08 3,348,394 10/ 1967 Giros 72-39 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

L. A. LARSON, Assistant Examiner. 

